Many still need jobless benefits

Those in Congress seeking an argument to extend emergency unemployment benefits to some 1 million Americans who lost them on Dec. 28 need look only as far as the latest jobs report from the federal Department of Labor.

On its face, the latest federal unemployment rate suggests continued recovery. The jobless rate has declined to 6.7 percent; it is the lowest rate since October 2008. During the last presidential election, 7 percent unemployment was considered a threshold by which the strength of the economic recovery could be judged.

But as economists have been cautioning throughout the recovery, the unemployment rate is only one number; it does not tell the whole story. For political purposes it can be beneficial to suggest that a declining jobless rate denotes economic success, but other data beg to be considered.

If anything causes the bitterly divided Congress to act reasonably and extend the emergency jobless benefits, it should be the fact that the United States' labor force just is not growing. In fact, in the latest round of jobless data, the workforce shrank in December, and has been basically stagnant for a year. Last month's data showed that 347,000 people dropped out of the workforce; only 143,000 additional people said they had a job. The labor participation rate - the percentage of Americans working or seeking work - again hit its lowest rate in more than 35 years.

These data more accurately reveal the ongoing struggles of those who lost jobs during the Great Recession. The bottom line is that many of those workers who were fired because of the economic collapse just cannot find work.

The most common argument against extending the emergency jobless benefits is that they are being abused; people are content to stay on the unemployment rolls rather than find a job. Such an argument ignores the reality that unemployment benefits are far from adequate to support a family; or even an individual. In South Carolina, for example, the maximum unemployment benefits check is $326.

Do people abuse the system? Almost certainly. But for the sake of argument, even if the rate of fraud is 10 percent, the solution is not to cut off the lifeline for the 90 percent who are using the system as intended.

Unemployment benefits are meant as a bridge to help workers who have lost their jobs make ends meet until they can find a job to replace the one that they lost. For most workers, that should mean an opportunity to find a job that pays an equivalent salary and in a similar field.

Workers' long-term prospects can be hurt if they rush to take a job that is beneath their skill set or their previous salary, or outside of their field of expertise.

The length of joblessness connected to the Great Recession raises the dilemma over how long an individual should be allowed to seek work that supports his family versus when he should take a job - any job - so he's not collecting jobless benefits.

Put another way: When should we require workers to give up their job search to take a full-time, low-wage job that limits their ability to earn what they once did?

Until May 2009, the average duration of unemployment had not topped 21.2 weeks since the U.S. Department of Labor began tracking the data in 1948. The average duration of unemployment in the United States in December was 37 weeks, unchanged from a year ago. Historic softness in the labor market is continuing.

Need another piece of evidence? The broader measure of unemployment that includes people who've given up looking for work stayed at 13.1 percent in December, same as the month before. Barring dramatic improvement in the labor market it is difficult to justify a policy that cuts away a safety net for the long-term unemployed and their families, especially at a time when the same politicians who refuse to extend jobless benefits also have been calling for dramatic cuts to other safety net programs, most notably the supplemental nutrition assistance program, or SNAP.

The reality of the 21st century economy that was created by the Great Recession is that job searches take longer; a longer bridge is needed. It should be evident by the latest jobless numbers that many workers - perhaps 1.3 million or more - are nowhere near the end of that bridge. Congress should give them more time.

A Senate plan would extend benefits for three more months. Granted, that comes at a cost, but it is the right thing to do and both Democrats and Republicans should be willing to support such an extension. With some families now having gone without any benefits for three weeks, lawmakers should act quickly.

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Many still need jobless benefits

Those in Congress seeking an argument to extend emergency unemployment benefits to some 1 million Americans who lost them on Dec. 28 need look only as far as the latest jobs report from the federal